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Save the dates: Our Twelfth Night Concert is January 4, 7, & 8, 2006
Our concert A Twelfth Night Celebration: The Shaw-Parker Legacy will be on January 4, 2006, 7:30 p.m. at St. Luke’s R.C. Church, Glenside, PA; January 7, 8:00 p.m. at Overbrook Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia; and January 8, 4:00 p.m. at the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, Philadelphia. In connection with PayPal, Voces Novae et Antiquae now has a system for placing ticket orders online. Go to our ticket order page at http://vocesnovaeantiquae.org/Ticket-Purchase.html to place a secure credit card order for your tickets. The tickets will be held for you at the box office. Our ticket prices, which have remained level for a number of years, have been raised this year, but only for purchases at the door.
Expanding from two performances to three for this 12th Night program is a new venture for us—and a risk as well. It has meant increasing our expenses by a full 33%, with no assurance that our income will match our expenditure. We are willing to take this risk for one reason only: to create additional opportunities for you to hear our work! So we are asking you at this time: by all means, come hear our concerts—tell your friends about our concerts—bring them along to our concerts—and shop at our online store and at Amazon and/or CD Universe via our web portal—these are all easy and important ways of supporting our work. But also consider making a tax-deductible contribution to VNA as well to support our continuing mission. Your donation means more than just operating funds for us and a tax break for you. It also casts your vote, as it were, for our continued existence, and it demonstrates to foundation and corporate funders that you care to see us continue bringing you music and performances available nowhere else in the greater Philadelphia area. So please visit our “Support Us” page at our website and help us keep bringing you the choral art you can hear nowhere else in our community.


A message from Artistic Director Robert A.M. Ross
For better or worse, conductors love to collect music on the grounds that something that looks even passingly interesting now may be useful in the future. Such was the case well over 12 years ago when, at a post-Christmas music sale, I picked up a collection of Robert Shaw/Alice Parker Christmas arrangements from which most of the 1st half of our upcoming 12th Night program will be drawn, and a curiosity: a little book of Christmas carols composed (as greeting cards!) by Rev. Bates G. Burt, the father of Alfred Burt, whose greeting card carols are, of course, quite well known.

When planning our 12th Night program for January 2003 (knowing I wanted to feature the complete Alfred Burt carols as the centerpiece of the program), I revisited the booklet of Bates G. Burt’s carols and chose a total of six of them, which solved the problem of how to complete the 1st half of that program. But what to follow? These pieces alone amounted to only one half of a workable program. And we wondered: surely there were other composers writing pieces like these...

We did a nationwide call for card-carol scores, having no idea who might be doing this or what we might receive. Thanks to a zip code misprint in the notices, only two submissions arrived by our stated deadline. But we couldn’t have been more fortunate.

Our first respondent was Abbie Betinis, a graduate student in composition out in Minneapolis who had only begun composing card carols in 2001—and who just happened to be the grand-niece of Alfred Burt! She was thrilled to hear about our concert, and not only provided us with her first three carols (and a good deal of new information about the Burts), but also graced us with her presence at the second of our two performances, where she spoke about her family and family traditions surrounding Christmas caroling.

Our other respondent was Brian Holmes, a physics professor from California who plays french horn and composes regularly for the Revels (a large-scale Christmas pageant which had a brief presence in
Philadelphia in the 1980s), and who also has been composing card carols for a number of years (at times more than one per year). He sent us five carols—each one better than the one preceding it—so we performed all five of them.

You will hear the latest card-carols from the pens of both Abbie and Brian at this year’s 12th Night program, along with three more carols by our other favorite card-caroler, Lesley Hopwood Meyer—whose story will have to wait until next month’s newsletter.

Finally, on a different note: I had the privilege of both attending and singing in the 50th anniversary concert of the Gregg Smith Singers in New York the weekend before Thanksgiving. While not quite as well known as his contemporaries Robert Shaw and Roger Wagner, Gregg has been a tireless supporter of not just choral music and not just professional choral music, but of countless composers who have crossed his path and whose music he has performed and, in many cases, recorded as well (the group is best known for their recordings of Stravinsky, Ives, Gabrieli, and Monteverdi for Columbia—records that were formative in my own musical upbringing!). I was one of those fortunate composers in the 1990s, having had about 10 pieces of mine performed at their Adirondack Festival of American Music in Saranac Lake, NY (full disclosure: I was general manager of the Festival from 1993 to 1997) and one performed in their NYC concert series which was subsequently recorded (there is more information at my composer website: www.robertamross.com). He is truly a national treasure, and, on behalf of all of us at Voces Novae et Antiquae, I send my heartiest congratulations for everything you have accomplished and my most humble thanks for numbering me among the composers you have nurtured!


This month's featured singer: H.L.Smith, II, tenor

H. L. Smith, II holds master’s degrees in Choral Conducting and Organ Performance from Temple University. Since 1996 he has been Organist and Master of Choristers at Saint Martin’s Episcopal Church in Radnor, PA. From 2004–2006 he was Dean of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. He has served as an Organ and Harpsichord Continuo Player for the Wayne Oratorio Society from 1999–2004; the Lauda! Chamber Singers since 2003; and as Organist for the Festival of Hymns Choir since 1992.

H.L.’s concert performances have taken him to Pennsylvania, New York, Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, Virginia, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., and internationally to Romania, Spain, and Canada. He has appeared with the Washington Symphony in Washington, DC and the Main Line Symphony in Villanova, PA. He is a published composer with Theodore Presser Music of King of Prussia, PA and a Sibelius music engraving software specialist. H.L. speaks of his experience with VNA:

“I have been a member of Voces Novae Et Antiquae since 1992. It has been for me, thirteen years of phenomenal music making. This ensemble is, without a doubt, the finest vocal ensemble that I have ever been a part of. The work that VNA does is nothing short of “First Rate”. VNA has been a major factor in my growth, both as a musician, and as a man. We all have a mutual respect for both the music that we do, and for each other as professionals. For me, personally, VNA has given me many marvelous opportunities to accompany, as both an organist and as a pianist. This included my accompanying VNA in a world premiere composition concert.  Last season, I was privileged to assume the role of assistant conductor for VNA in their participation in the Philadelphia Bach Festival. Later on that season, VNA performed one of my compositions in their “Philadelphia Area” composers program. These two opportunities were a major boost to both the newest aspect of my career:  that of being a published composer, as well as my already well-established career as an organist and a conductor.

“A word about my relationship with the director: Rob is without a doubt one of the finest musicians I have ever worked with. His professionalism and his musicianship are only preceded by his respect and caring for the members of his ensemble. He is a pleasure to work with. We’ve known each other since 1987. Rob has given me more venues to increase my skills as a professional, than anyone else, I know and he is still continuing to do so. It’s never just about him. It’s about others, as well. He’s just that kind of bloke. Always giving, always sharing, always encouraging. I’m proud to call him a friend, as well as a colleague.  It has always been a pleasure to make music happen with him. I am truly pleased to be a member of VNA.”


Look at our web site
Check our web site, www.vocesnovaeantiquae.org, for performance dates, sound clips, and ticket orders. Our home page now links to an explicit guide for pronouncing our name.


Support Voces Novae et Antiquae
The Voces Novae et Antiquae Online Store, at http://www.cafepress.com/VNAshop, features T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, and other items with the VNA logo, as well as our exclusive “Real Men Sing Countertenor” design.

Amazon.com offers a wide selection of books, music, electronics, kitchen equipment, and other merchandise. The next time you shop at Amazon, go first to
http://www.vocesnovaeantiquae.org/Support-us.html
Click on the Amazon.com button, and you will be taken to Amazon’s home page. Continue shopping as usual. VNA will receive a percentage of the amount of your purchase.
We now have a link to CD Universe as well. Shop on CD Universe for CDs, as well as video and game merchandise. Go first to http://www.vocesnovaeantiquae.org/Support-us.html
Click on the CD Universe button, and you will be taken to CD Universe’s home page. Continue shopping as usual. VNA will receive a percentage of the amount of your purchase.